In October, 1781,
the commissioners appointed to arrange the terms of capitulation, between
General Washington and Lord Cornwallis, met at this house. It is, however,
generally believed that the draft there prepared, was signed in the trenches
of Yorktown, over a mile away. When the Army of the Potomac invested Yorktown,
the Moore House was in excellent preservation. It was far from a safe
habitation, the rebel shells striking it several times; one, in particular,
entered through the wall, and exploding inside, did considerable damage.
Some of McClellan’s aides, who had been reconnoitering from the
widows, had but a few seconds before [they] left the house. Much frequented
was it by the sharpshooters, the orchard beyond offering fair opportunities
to advance to the front unobserved. Stealing amongst the trees, purple
with the bloom of the peach, the riflemen would proceed, at the first
glimpse of dawn, while yet the mist hung in the air, to take a position,
they would not dare to leave till night extended her friendly cover. With
their heavy, telescope-sighted, rifles, they made deadly work among squirrel-shooters
of Mississippi, who were driven to the exercise of great caution in their
endeavors to retaliate upon the working parties.

Caption
taken from original text, Plate 15, Vol. I,
Gardner's Photographic Sketch Book of the War
(Washington: Philp & Solomons, 1865-66)

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The
Moore House, near Yorktown, Virginia. May, 1862 Photographed by John
Wood & James F. Gibson